11th straight week of anti-Government across Israel
Thousands of Israelis protested outside the Prime Minister”s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday as summer-long demonstrations against Benjamin Netanyahu maintained there momentum.
Nearly 15,000 took to the streets in Jeruslem alone with placards saying “Your time is up”, while smaller protests took place across the Country. The protesters want the embattled Netanyahu to give up his post while he is on trial for corruption charges.
He has rejected calls to step down and claimed the protests are the work of leftists and the media.
Is Netanyahu more focused on his trial than the pandemic?
The Government’s mishaps in handling the coronavirus after relative early success in its early stages has also fuelled the demonstrations. Israel appeared to contain the pandemic in its first phase, but the quick reopening of the economy led to a spike in cases with over a hundred thousand Isrealis testing postive for the virus and unemployment now at around 20% – many protesters claiming he is more focused on his upcoming trial.
Last year Netanyahu was charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three long-running corruption investigations, the Prime Minister denies any wrong doing.